Russia Uses New Shahed With Thermal Imaging in Ukraine
After a Russian night attack, the remains of a new Shahed-236 attack drone with a thermal imaging system were found in Ukraine. Militarnyi takes a detailed look at its technical characteristics.
Telegram channel eRadar published photos of the wreckage.
The found drone has an uncharacteristic serial number with Latin letters MS001, which indicates that it is one of the first in the series and was most likely supplied by Iran.
The use of the distinctive four-component CRPA antenna of the Tallysman satellite navigation system also supports the Iranian origin. For comparison, the Russian-made drones are equipped with a different type of antenna for 8, 12, and 16 channels.
It is worth paying special attention to the guidance principle of the unmanned system. In the photo, the dome of the thermal imaging camera was placed on top of the drone, but it was primarily placed in the nose. A communication antenna is located nearby, which indicates that the drone can be controlled in flight from a ground control station.
The “Colonel GS” channel draws attention to the fact that a powerful single-board Nvidia Jetson computer was integrated into the drone’s optical module, which is used to implement automatic targeting by “machine vision” algorithms.
According to him, other parts of the drone, such as the engine and combat unit, remained unchanged apart from the new components.
Shahed-236
The serial number and design of the new drone match the description of the Shahed-236, Militarnyi discovered in a study of Russian documentation related to the production of Iranian drones in Russia.
During one of the visits to Iran, the Russian delegation was presented with a test of a new Shahed-236 drone with a target acquisition system and an internal combustion engine. The drone successfully took off in the dark, covered the distance to the target following the flight mission, and hit it.
During the flight, the operator chose one of four targets online (containers measuring 6m by 3m were selected as targets). The homing head successfully captured the target as directed by the operator. It was hit with an accuracy of 3-5 meters.
The presentation also showed the principle of using the unmanned system, which, in addition to the Shahed-236 itself, also includes a similar drone repeater and control station. The declared range of such a system was 220 kilometers.
The records also mentioned the estimated cost of the drone (probably for the Russian Federation), which was about USD 900 thousand. This price is obviously overstated by several times, given that in 2022, such a Shahed-136 cost the Russians USD 193 thousand. This may be due to the associated costs of localization or licensed production.
